How to be hai in the ratings

Press, 25 February 1983, Page 15

How to be hai in the ratings

Review

Ken Strongman

Remember those gigantic, big-screen Hollywood epics of the 19605? They were marvellous affairs, tracing 'bits of fictionalised history with swashbuckling heroes going relentlessly from deprivations to miracles whilst heavenly choirs reflected their progress in harmonious wails. After one of those, you really felt that you had been to the flics. ; The scope and general tone of "Shogun" is nostalgically reminiscent of the epic, ft is an enormous book and 'the television coverage is in ■proportion, concentrated into six days spread over two weeks. This time next week. It will all be over and half jhe population will be saying »‘Hai" to one another. Ah so. ’ Very first impressions were not favourable. Richard Chamberlain became so notorious a few years ago that Dr Kildare kept peering out from Blackthorne’s beard as it thrust its way through 17th century Japan. And the setting. although it looked authentic, had the feel of "Tenko" about it. Western actors in Japanese settings must stand upright again at the end of a series with a sigh of relief as their nearest and dearest rub their backs.

Bowing all day long can really give you one. The language of "Shogun" is one of the most unusual mixtures to appear on television for some time. With numerous priests pacing about and ignorant sailors trying to make sense of the far east. God plays a large part. "It is the Japans, by God. it has to be." Most of the characters are, naturally enough, Japanese. So a great deal of the soundtrack is made up of what, to the untutored ear. are inarticulate grunts. Are they inarticulate to the tutored ear as well? It is just as well the Portuguese can *speak Inglees. otherwise the viewer might be in trouble. The language problems give “Shogun” a rather grinding humour. Smiling statements such as "Thank you. you black-eyed son of a whore." which one presumes

is no way to address a Japanese gentleman, soon wear thin. It. must be awkward though, speaking to people who have haircuts which are the antithesis of a mohawk: a sort of studied baldness which makes the head look like a smooth mushroom thrusting up through a forest undergrowth. In the way of the Hollywood epics, "Shogun” is coy (or censored). The violence mostly occurs just underneath the camera. We could see the samurai sword swish but not the actual heads roll. We could see Blackthorne degraded by the golden stream of the samurai leader, but could not see the act itself.

"Shogun" is partly about the interplay between two cultures, each of which will be equally foreign to many viewers. Because of one’s ignorance it is believable, but there is a problem. One has become so accustomed to the skit at the end of "The Two Ronnies", that at any moment one expects them to appear in the ranks of the samurai and break into song. Ronnie Barker looking exactly right as a warrior.

In spite of the swashbuck

ling verve of "Shogun" there have been a few moments which stretch credulity. The ragged, dirty group of sailors were cast down a hole in the ground and then covered in wet and presumably stinking fish. Their captors decreed that they had to choose one of their number to be put to death. Reasonably enough, they decided to draw for the short straw. But where did the straws come from? There were none down the hole. Perhaps they were part, of every 17th century shipwrecked sailor's survival kit.

Still, there have not Deen many such moments and “Shogun" is probably going to be addictive. Perhaps it is just as well that it only spreads over two weeks. At some time there will probably be a good confrontation between Blackthorne (why do I keep thinking of Watership Down?) and the samurai boss. Apart from the degradation. there has been a great deal of smouldering eyeball-to-eyeball stuff which can end only jn one way. although hopefully not in slow motion.